Outside the Beltway

January 6ers Want Blanket Pardon

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James Joyner · Monday, February 17, 2025 · 11 comments

WSJ (“Jan. 6 Rioters Argue Pardons Apply to Charges Including Murder Plot, Child Porn”):

Less than a month after receiving pardons for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, some former defendants find themselves in a familiar place: back in court, facing other criminal charges.

There is Edward Kelley, who was pardoned for assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol, but who is now fighting another case. In November, a jury convicted him of conspiring to murder the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who investigated his Jan. 6 participation, with evidence showing he had a “kill list” of targets.

Kelley now argues that conviction should be tossed out, too.

The Tennessee man believes that President Trump’s blanket pardon covering “offenses related to events that occurred at or near” the Capitol on Jan. 6 extends beyond that day.

Other defendants are similarly arguing they should be absolved of other alleged crimes, such as illegal gun possession and child pornography, discovered during Jan. 6 investigations. At least one defendant has died in a post-pardon altercation with police.

Weeks after the pardon that freed hundreds of prison inmates and ended remaining cases winding through the courts, life is far from settled for a large contingent of the defendants.

This month, dozens of defendants joined forces on X to compile and publicize the names of at least 124 people who had a hand in their convictions—mainly prosecutors, but also a few judges and FBI agents, a review by The Wall Street Journal found. The post of names, with at least 60,000 views, included photos and disparaging remarks, and demands for accountability.

On Jan. 27, county prosecutors in Houston announced a manhunt for Andrew Taake, a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant who was being sought on a 2016 charge of online solicitation of a minor. He had been serving a 74-month sentence after pleading guilty to violence at the Capitol. Prosecutors said he sprayed police officers with bear spray four separate times and struck one with a metal whip.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said it had asked federal prison officials to hold the 36-year-old Taake, but instead he was let out of a Colorado facility on Jan. 20 after Trump’s pardon.

“Rearresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending State warrants, will require significant resources,” the D.A.’s office said. Taake was finally tracked down Feb. 6 at a home after a dayslong search. His lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The plain language of the pardon would seem to indicate that it is very narrow:

grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021

But one could argue that “related” would indicate seeking retribution against law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges involved in the “grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people.”

Child pornography charges would take some creative lawyering, to be sure. I am not a lawyer, but I could certainly see an argument that the subtext of the pardon is that supporters of the signatory should not be in jail while those who oppose him should be. In this case, so long as these folks continue to be faithful to the cause, any crimes they commit should be forgiven.

And, in fact, many are carrying out their civic duty:

Federal agents and others have expressed fear of retaliation for investigating the Capitol riot. After Trump-appointed Justice Department leaders demanded a list of all agents involved, agents sued, arguing it would put them and their families at risk from “the now pardoned and at-large Jan. 6 convicted felons.”

The federal government temporarily agreed to not make the list public while a judge considers a longer-term ban. “If this information were released, I think there’s no question that it would put a number of FBI agents in significant and immediate danger,” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, said during a recent court hearing.

Nonetheless, many Jan. 6-ers are taking it upon themselves to publicize the names.

On Feb. 5, Timothy Louis Hale-Cusanelli, a New Jersey resident who served three years in prison for his role in the Capitol attack, created the post on X asking fellow defendants to name their prosecutors.

“I’d like to see the judges exposed,” one person responded. “Not sure what you can do about them but they probably don’t like their names out there after releasing a bunch of angry bees.”

“Taking names and kicking ass. Keep it up Patriots,” came another.

“Got ’em,” Hale-Cusanelli posted after each new name was added.

Hale-Cusanelli, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, was enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves at the time of the attack. He was among the first to enter the Capitol and commanded others to “advance” on the building, according to prosecutors. They said he made harassing and derogatory statements to police and spoke of a coming revolution.

Rachel Powell, who helped smash a Capitol window with a battering ram and shouted through a bullhorn, added her prosecutor’s name to the list. She accused the prosecutor of telling lies and called for consequences such as prison time or termination if the allegations are substantiated.

“It would be nice to see prosecutors held accountable for their actions,” said Powell, 44, in an interview. She said while she doesn’t regret going to the Capitol to protest what she believes was election fraud, she does regret her behavior that day. Other weapons brandished by participants included guns, Tasers, a sword, axes, hatchets, knives, baseball bats, the Justice Department has said.

Jail guards also have been singled out. Ryan Nichols Sr., a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers with pepper spray, turned his attention to corrections officers after his Jan. 20 release. He started a Jan. 22 X thread with: “The officers in the DC Jail who need to be investigated for corruption and abuse.”

Nichols added the names and LinkedIn profile photos of two Washington, D.C., jail workers, and detailed alleged mistreatment he said he observed while held there. A North Carolina Proud Boys chapter shared the same LinkedIn profiles, adding messages about each worker including, “Hello, Crystal…. The Proud Boys remember.”

The D.C. Department of Corrections said that “misinformation and false allegations against DOC staff are deeply concerning. Threats and intimidation against DOC employees are reported to the appropriate authorities.” A spokeswoman said Jan. 6 defendants were treated the same as other inmates in the same custody level.

Nichols’s lawyer said his client and other Jan. 6 defendants did nothing wrong by posting such information. “It is people saying, hey, I went to jail wrongfully, I’ve been pardoned, I was tortured, I’ve been hurt by my government, these are the people who did it,” said Joseph McBride. “Ryan has repeatedly said this is not a call to violence, this is just [him] raising awareness so the public knows there are two sides to the story.”

In a nation where quaint notions such as “the rule of law” hold sway, this would be horrendous misconduct that anyone in a leadership position would roundly condemn. But, in one where loyalty to a leader seeking national restoration is the primary indicator of good citizenship, this behavior is necessary to carry out a rebirth.